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Frank Shaw, director of corporate communications for Microsoft, argued in a corporate blog post that Google's privacy changes make it harder for people to control their own information. Shaw is running an ad campaign blasting Google's changes in some major newspapers this week.

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"Our users can: edit and delete their search history; edit and delete their YouTube viewing history; use many of our services signed in or out; use Google Dashboard and our Ads Preferences Manager to see what data we collect and manage the way it is used; and take advantage of our data liberation efforts if they want to remove information from our services," wrote Betsy Masiello, a Google policy manager.

Ironically, Microsoft offers a soft landing for users who do choose to shuttle their data from Google applications, and Shaw reminded consumers about the alternatives.

Google also denied that it is changing its privacy practices to make its data more valuable for advertisers.

Instead, Google said the vast majority of the product personalization Google does is unrelated to ads and that the move is about making its services better for users. This is misleading, as Google has made no secret of that fact that streamlined privacy policies will improve its ads.

Google also denied Microsoft's assertion that it is reading users' email, arguing that its servers scan messages to "get rid of spam and malware, as well as show ads that are relevant to you."